Congress, as I mentioned in my last blog post, is in the midst of wasting taxpayer money to study hydrofracing for the umpteenth time, likely only find once again, there is no evidence its as problematic as those not profiting from the shale gas boom would like you to believe.
Perfect case in point: the recent comments of Steve Heare, director of EPA's drinking water protection division. Mr. Heare is apparently on the record saying that he has absolutely no proof that the states (tasked with policing the oil and gas industry as it operates in their boarders) have not being doing their jobs as they should in terms of regulating hydraulic fractruing, as environmentalists and NIMBYs throughout the shale plays will have you believe. Poor Mr. Heare. He's doing his job, being honest about what he knows, and now he's about to be destroyed by the throngs of people out there who refuse to believe piles of scientific reports that show fracing has not been to blame for water contamination anywhere, regardless of being blamed for it on numerous occassions.
Ah, big bad oil and gas. Can't believe anything they say. Apparently now, anti-drilling factions can't believe the Obama Administration either, even though it seems determined to "forget" about natural gas everytime it comes time to talk about real solutions to our energy and air pollution problems. And, oh yeah, real good paying jobs.
It seems, according to anti-drilling groups, we can't believe anything Mr. Heare says beacuse his resume isn't good enough to be a ranking EPA official. He only has a bachelors degree -- how can we believe what he says?! Apparently activists will throw anything at someone, even someone in an Administration they love, to discredit the natural gas industry. The years of experience Mr. Heare has doing his job and his background in the field bear no weight at all. It seems people with no experience in environmental protection other than throwing stones know more about the state of regulation and contamination than people who deal with it everyday.
Interestingly enough, if they're able to get Mr. Heare's job, cleansing the Obama Administration of enemies will get decidedly harder. White House Environmental Tsarina Carol Browner -- respected by environmentalists, regulators, and yes, industry people all over -- is on record in a personal letter discussing hydraulic fracing, and stating straight forward that it has been shown to pose no real environmental threats and does not warrent any federal oversight.
What to do. Doesn't seem we can attack her credentials. Although isn't it interesting that, after the big celebration of her being on the Obama Team, we hear very little from her? Browner's a smart lady -- she knows an environmental threat from overbaked hype. So she'll likely stay quite on this one. If she's forced to take a side, she'll either soon be spending more time with her family, or say something publically like "Well, I said that before I knew we'd be producing this many shale wells."
Its interesting when the people who are supposed to be on "your side" know more about something than you do, and that something doesn't support your claims. Also intersting that anti-drilling activists find comments like Heare's more dangerous than reams of actual science that doesn't support them either.
Good luck to you Mr. Heare -- I appreciate your efforts to educate people about the facts of gas well drilling. You truly are a public servant. The kind that tells the truth, rather than forwards misconceptions that are politically popular.
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